


challenger

by chubsonthemoon



Series: siblings siblings siblings siblings [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, implied kagehina bc i'm weak, kageyama doesn't know how to talk to kids, kageyama will challenge anyone if you put a sunset behind him, natsu fights the world and wins, post nationals spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25684876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chubsonthemoon/pseuds/chubsonthemoon
Summary: Hinata Natsu declares a one-girl war on the sport of volleyball. Kageyama Tobio comes to its defense.
Relationships: Hinata Natsu & Kageyama Tobio
Series: siblings siblings siblings siblings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862536
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	challenger

**Author's Note:**

> hi i'm still emotional over the ending and natsu wasn't there so i took matters into my own hands. also not quite sure about her age so i put her in middle school? probably a little bit too old but AY it's fic babyyy

When Natsu is finally old enough to go one of Shouyou’s games by herself, she watches them lose to an iron wall.

“Date Tech. They’re really good at blocking,” Shouyou had debriefed her the night before, one finger in the air and a hand on his hip. Like they were on the battlefield and not in their living room, wearing matching pairs of dog socks. “But we’re better. We’re gonna beat them.”

Natsu didn’t doubt him last night, and even though she just saw them lose, doesn’t doubt him now. To be honest, she doesn’t understand what just happened—there were too many people running around and the ball was always where she least expected it. She’s not quite tall enough to see the whole court from the stands, but she recognizes that familiar hair, that head held high as the team walks back from the net.

 _We’re going to win,_ Shouyou had said, and even though they didn’t, Natsu doesn’t know why she still believes him.

***

Because Karasuno loses to Date Tech in the Inter-High spring qualifiers, and Natsu’s heart hurts, because her brother looks so _angry_. She has only ever seen him the morning or evening of his matches—energized at the breakfast table, the half slump of his back over dinner as he falls asleep, the inevitable yelling from his bedroom that wakes the whole house up. But never right after a game; never this horrible, horrible slow walk back to the stands.

She wonders what they look like when they win.

Shouyou and another boy, the one with the scary face and black hair and bangs, talk on the way over, briefly. The boy says something, and Shouyou nods, and then they run to catch up with the other players.

“Thank you very much!”

Natusu feels like crying—up close, everyone looks so, so sad. Some of them actually _are_ crying. The only one who doesn’t look sad is the blond guy with glasses, who keeps taking them off to rub his eyes. Maybe he got sweat in them.

Shouyou looks up from his bow and catches her eye. Something shifts—he gives a little wave and smiles. But it’s all wrong, because that’s not _her_ Shouyou. Her Shouyou is loud and sometimes mean and makes her eat all her vegetables. Her Shouyou gets frustrated and focused and excited, but never, ever quiet ( _well, except for_ —Natsu doesn’t like to think about that time).

This Shouyou scares her.

He turns away, the look on his face one she does not recognize, and it is then that she decides on two things:

  1. She hates volleyball.
  2. She will rescue her big brother from its clutches.



***

She tells him so as soon as they get home: arms crossed, brows furrowed, standing her ground. Hinatas, once they decide on something, do not give up.

“I hate volleyball!” she says. She tosses her shoes to the floor with a finality she hopes needs no further explanation.

Shouyou looks up in surprise from untying his sneakers.

A moment.

“Bwah?” His mouth hangs open, alarm written all over his face. “Natsu, how could you _say_ that? Volleyball is awesome!”

“No, it’s not!” she says. She will hold her ground here, against the evil that is volleyball. “It’s dumb and makes you look all scary!”

Wrong thing to say—Shouyou’s eyes light up as he stands, hefting his stupid volleyball bag over his shoulder. “Scary?” he says, excited. “Was it a good kind of scary? Like _whoa, he’s so cool, better watch out for him_?”

 _“No,”_ Natsu says. “It’s not a good thing to look scary, dummy!” Why can’t she make him understand? “You looked cool when you jumped everywhere, like _pwah_ and _whoosh_ and stuff, but after you guys lost—”

Ah, another wrong thing to say. Shouyou’s smile fades a little, and he goes quiet again.

“You looked…scary…” Natsu trails off. She feels very small, because maybe it’s _her_ fault that they lost, somehow. Which is also dumb, because it’s not like she could’ve done anything to make them lose, but it was the very first game she’d ever been to, and they _lost_ , and…

Her shoelaces are tangled on the floor and she realizes she’s crying; she sniffles, mortified. Stupid shoes, stupid volleyball.

“Natsu, it’s okay!” Shouyou says, and gets on one knee to look her in the eye. “We won’t lose next time! You can come to that game, too. All the games, if you want! Then you can see me score even more points!” He gives her pigtails a little tug. “So don’t cry, ok? And don’t hate volleyball, hate losing. I do.” His eyes turn solemn, almost grave. “You can hate losing, but never volleyball. Because volleyball is _awesome_.”

Natsu can’t make any promises, but Shouyou looks so earnest, like her not hating volleyball is really important. Her heart sinks. _I’m sorry._

“I’m not crying,” Natsu says instead, swiping at the traitorous tears that are definitely not coming from her, no way, and Shouyou laughs and pokes her in the cheek. He gives her a hug, smelling like sweat and other gross big brother things.

“Okay, you’re not,” he says. She feels him nod into her shoulder, and she makes her hands into fists of his stupid, smelly volleyball shirt.

He stands and smiles down at her, ruffling her hair. “C’mon, let’s eat dinner.”

He steps over the foyer, calling out the usual _we’re home!_ , and Natsu stares at his back, at those unfamiliar characters she still can’t read but knows how to say on his jacket. _Karasuno High School Volleyball Club._

There had been another boy who had looked scary, just as scary or maybe even scarier than Shouyou. She had gotten a closer look at him while waiting outside the auditorium after the game—the guy’s hands were in his pockets, and he hadn’t even glanced at Natsu.

“Tomorrow,” Shouyou had said to him, a human shield from Scary Volleyball Guy. Natsu had peeked around Shouyou’s waist, curious. “Park.”

The guy had nodded, once. Natsu couldn’t tell if he was glaring at Shouyou or his face just looked like that. Before she could figure it out, he said, “Tomorrow,” and then turned heel and left.

Now, in her foyer, she glares at her crooked shoes before bending down to fix them. She straightens Shouyou’s too, for good measure.

The guy had been the one who tossed the ball to Shouyou to hit, over and over again. The reason why Shouyou kept jumping. Keeps jumping.

Conclusion: _Scary Guy is the one Shouyou plays with the most._

“Natsu, come wash up!” their mother says, and Natsu stands.

Volleyball is dangerous, but it still is a sport. She can’t fight a sport. But the players?

First step—get to know the enemy.

***

“Um.”

 _This was a mistake,_ Natsu thinks, legs shaking. _Oh, Shouyou. Why, why, why?_

Shouyou always stops somewhere after practice, because once a week he came home with a greasy bag that smelled like pork buns that he only sometimes shared with Natsu. So she formed the Plan—a whole bag for only one measly meat bun? No, other people must share them with her brother. Bad, evil volleyball people. The only question, then, was _where?_

A week after her declaration of war, she somehow managed to get the name of the store from Shouyou— _Sakanoshita General_ —and after promising Mom she’d be super careful, permission to take the bus to meet Shouyou there after practice.

“You—,” she says now, knees shaking, because she didn’t think she’d be thrust into battle so quickly. She’s in front of Sakanoshita right now, Shouyou nowhere in sight—not that she was planning on relying on him in the first place. Obviously. 

Scary Volleyball Guy with the Bangs stares down at her, probably about to feed her to the crows. She feels her knees about to give out, but.

 _That’s right_ —she’s here on a mission. She straightens her spine, brand new middle school uniform a boon she calls upon for strength, and points a finger straight up in Scary Guy’s angry, pinched face. “You stay away from my brother!” she says, with much more courage than she actually feels. “You’re the one he plays volleyball with the most, which means you’re the enemy.”

Scary Guy’s face somehow turns even scarier—Natsu quickly shuts her mouth with an _eep_ she hopes sounds braver than it probably does and takes a step back—but she does not run. She cannot.

“Um,” Scary Guy says, and Natsu blinks. His voice doesn’t sound as terrifying as his face looks, just kinda…confused. Really, really confused. “Are you…Hinata’s—er, Shouyou’s—little sister?”

Now _this_ she knows. She crosses her arms, puffs up with pride. “Yes. I am. And this a warning, Scary Guy. Shouyou’s gonna quit, so you’d better accept it. No more volleyball!” She does not mention that she hasn’t convinced Shouyou of the dangers of volleyball yet, but he doesn’t need to know that.

Scary Guy’s face twists into something that makes Natsu’s stomach drop. This time, his voice matches his face. “He’s…quitting?” he asks darkly.

 _Oh no._ This is it, this is how she dies. She didn’t even get to watch the newest episode of her favorite anime or win another dodgeball game in gym class or skip rope with Shouyou one last time. It’s just her, the summer sunset, those trash cans, and Scary Guy’s horrible, horrible voice full of…

Wait.

“He never told me he was going to quit,” Scary Guy mumbles, eyes to the ground, and Natsu realizes that she may have, possibly, probably, made a mistake. She shifts, scratches her ankle with her foot.

“Well,” she starts. “It’s actually—”

“He _can’t_ ,” Scary Guy says quietly. His voice starts small and then grows, louder and more insistent, and yeah ok maybe Natsu miscalculated here. “No, no, he can’t, not now, just because we didn’t make it this round, there’s still the qualifiers in October, he _promised_ me—no. No.”

And then suddenly it’s like Natsu’s not even there, and the guy goes silent, looking like someone’s punched him in the gut (she’s only done it to Shouyou a few times, but she recognizes the expression: eyes wide, chest still. Like he can’t breathe).

But then Scary Guy looks up, face back to normal, like he’s about to sneeze or something. Natsu realizes that maybe he’s not actually scary, that maybe he just…looks like that. Not evil, just grumpy. Like how Shouyou always looks hungry.

“He won’t quit,” he says, with confidence. He crosses his own arms and glares at a spot a little to Natsu’s left. Natsu checks quickly— _there’s nothing there?_ “He won’t, because he’s my teammate. My…partner. I know him.”

Natsu turns back and rises to the challenge in his voice, her own eyes narrowed. “He’s _my_ brother,” she says. “I know him better than you do.”

Scary Guy shifts his glare to her, but Natsu isn’t scared anymore. He purses his lips like he’s eaten something sour— _yeah, no,_ Natsu’s sure now—he really does just look like that normally, all intense and constipated.

“Maybe you do,” he says, arms falling to his sides. His hands clench into fists, then go slack. “But when it comes to volleyball,” he begins, and Natsu prepares herself, “I know him best!”

They stand like that for a moment more, Natsu looking up at Not-So-Scary Guy, who looks like he’s about to pass out, as if _he’s_ the one confronting a high schooler—and _why?_ Why should _he_ be so scared, when Natsu is the one fighting for her brother’s survival? What right does he have to say he knows Shouyou best?

“Shouyou is my older brother,” she says slowly, and the guy blinks. “He’s annoying and too loud and makes fun of me all the time even though he’s the dumb one.”

Scary Guy nods.

Natsu falters for a moment before soldiering on. “He’s my older brother and even though he can act stupid, he can be really cool!”

There is evidence for this, like that poster right behind Scary Guy’s head with Shouyou _literally flying_. She jabs a finger in its direction, and he turns to look. When he turns back around, he nods again.

“And… you’re not wrong. He’s not actually quitting volleyball,” she admits. And then Natsu remembers something really scary, voice going small. “But I wish he would. He can’t keep playing. Volleyball makes him do and say weird things, like last winter when he got sick, and. And I don’t want him to look like that ever again.”

It had only been for about a week, but when he came back from Tokyo, still feverish, Shouyou had been so, so quiet. Like he wasn’t even…here.

Natsu fiddles with the hem of her shirt and glares at the ground, then at Scary Guy’s face, daring him to say something. Ball’s in his court, now.

Scary Guy’s face turns into something Natsu has no word for, something like relief even though he had sounded so confident before— _‘he can’t quit, I know him’—_ something like recognition— _ah, that’s right, he was probably there last winter—_ and something _else_ , something like—

“Why are you agreeing with me?” Natsu wants to whack something. He’s supposed to be the enemy, but Scary Guy keeps nodding and looking just like Natsu feels, like he _knows_ that seeing Shouyou so utterly defeated is the worst thing in the world, and seriously, what is _with_ these volleyball people? “You already know all this, right? Why do you still play, then?”

Because if Natsu’s right about this, if her hunch that he and Shouyou are the same (because after the game with Date Tech, they had the same set to their shoulders, the same look in their eyes), then the reason why Scary Guy plays volleyball should be the same as Shouyou’s. And the one time she asked Shouyou _why_ , last winter, when he came home with his eyes turned inward and his hands still and just wrong, wrong, _wrong_ , he had said, _“Do I need a reason to want to win?”,_ and Natsu didn’t—still doesn’t—understand.

(She realizes that, perhaps, she is standing on the other side of a mountain in front of a convenience store not to declare war, but to ask for clarity. Because she has no idea what the heck it is about volleyball that makes Shouyou and Scary Guy keep going, but it must be important, must be bigger than she could ever imagine. Right?)

Scary Guy’s nose twitches. He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I play for the same reason your brother does,” he says, and doesn’t elaborate further.

Natsu squints at him. Well, that was unhelpful. Maybe all volleyball people are bad at explaining things.

“And I agree,” he continues. “Hinata—uh, Shouyou—is annoying and loud and sucks.”

“Hey—!”

“But…” he says, as if she hadn’t spoken. He looks at the ground again, scuffs his shoes against the concrete. “He’s not… _not_ sucky, sometimes. At volleyball.” He looks up quickly. “I’m way better, though! He hasn’t beaten me ever. And I’ll keep winning.”

Natsu squints harder. “What?” she says, taking a step forward. “Listen here, Mr. Scary Guy, Shouyou is _way_ better than you—”

He splutters, but she’s _right,_ she knows she is. “No, I saw it! He can jump really high! He can _fly!_ And if he didn’t jump so much, you guys wouldn’t have gotten so many points!” Her voice climbs higher and higher, steadily gaining strength. “And you guys _both_ lost, because you’re on the same team, so what are you talking about? Are you scared or something?”

Scary Guy has actually taken a step back, a detail Natsu notes with pride. She’s _right_ , and he knows it, too. “Oh my god, there are two of them,” he mutters. He looks a little bewildered. “Look, Hinata—uh, Shouyou’s sister—”

“My name’s Hinata Natsu!” she declares, stamping her foot down like a flag in the soil. “And even if my brother hasn’t beaten you yet, he will one day, I know he will! Because he loves volleyball, and he’ll never give up, even if it means he has to face big scary guys like you! So…” she raises an arm and points up at him, stands up tall, because she is a Hinata, and she is proud. “So you better watch out!”

The confusion is gone, and steadiness returns to Scary Guy’s eyes, like he’s used to declarations of war. Maybe he is. Maybe that’s why Shouyou keeps telling Natsu there’s someone he has to defeat, no matter what.

Maybe that’s why, last winter, a week after he came home from Tokyo, he had barreled into the kitchen one morning like he usually did, had shoved his arms through his jacket sleeves, and before Natsu could burst into tears with relief, ask him _is everything ok now?,_ had hollered _Natsu can you tell Mom I’m meeting a friend for practice okthankyoubye!_

“I will,” Scary Guy says, completely serious. “I am. I—we made a promise. He’s meeting me at the top of the world.” A pause; he looks her dead in the eye. “And I’m going to get there first.”

_The top of the world?_

That sounds…way bigger than volleyball. But it’s better than the answers she’s gotten so far, so she’ll take it.

“Good,” Natsu says, and it’s only now that she realizes that her goal has completely shifted; now, apparently, she’s going to help her older brother in the things he loves, like volleyball and beating constipated Scary Guys. Because for all the times he’s made fun of her or tugged on her pigtails, she loves her older brother, very much. “He’ll win,” she says, and it is a promise.

They stare at each other, wind blowing between them, cooler now that evening is approaching. Then—

The familiar _click-click-click_ of a bicycle. They blink, the moment over, and a familiar voice floats in from around the corner.

“Bakageyama, where’d you go? We were supposed to practice receives today, or did you forget?”

Natsu’s eyes widen. _Shoot,_ she never actually told Shouyou that she was supposed to meet him here. She aims one last glare at Scary Guy, trying to convey all her conviction in a single look.

Scary Guy nods once, his eyes the same as hers, and Natsu hightails it out of there. She ducks in the alley between the shop and the building next to it just as she hears Shouyou yell something about _hurry up, Kageyama, God you’re so slow_ , hears Scary Guy (Kageyama?) reply _Shut up, Hinata dumbass, you’re the slow one_.

She runs all the way to the bus stop near the top of the slope, fists closed and wind flying to meet her.

“He doesn’t know what’s coming,” she mutters, panting when she finally reaches the overhang. She doesn’t sit, instead turns to face the empty road. She’s not at the top of the hill quite yet, but she can see the brown tiles of Sakanoshita, the curve of the slope that Shouyou rides all the way down every day on the way to school.

Even though she lost this battle, because Shouyou will not quit volleyball, not now and not ever, she knows that she—and her brother—will win the war. Volleyball is still dangerous, still something to watch out for, but she has learned that there is something on the court, in all the jumping and running around, that makes the danger worth it.

The bus rattles up from the way she came. She boards and sits in the back so she can watch the evening sun, see golden light flare on the other side of the mountain that separates her from this part of her brother—of volleyball and fire and fear and everything Natsu doesn’t understand yet, but wants to desperately.

She will though too, one day. As the view from the top disappears, the bus heading down into the evening shadows of her home valley, Natsu thinks with pride, promises to the peak: _Hinatas do not lose, ever. Just watch._

***

(“Wait, you guys know each other?” Shouyou asks, mouth agape. They had crossed paths in the foyer; Shouyou coming in, Natsu going out. Summer is officially coming to an end, bringing with it with final exams. Natsu is very glad she is not in high school.

“Yeah,” Kageyama Tobio says, first name the only new thing to Natsu in Shouyou’s short introduction.

“Yeah,” Natsu says, looking at him with suspicion. He meets her gaze, then nods in recognition.

Shouyou’s head looks like it’s about to fall off with how hard he’s swinging it back and forth. “Wait, _how?”_

“Scary Guy says he’s gonna beat you,” Natsu says, slipping on her shoes. She doesn’t care that she looked away first; it’s Shouyou’s job to defeat him, anyway. “And that you haven’t won against him yet. Is that true?”

Shouyou turns on Kageyama, hands flailing. “What? No! Kageyama, that’s a _lie!_ I’m winning right now! Quit telling people _lies_ —wait, Natsu, hold up, how did you two meet?”

But Natsu is already out the door, nodding back at Kageyama in grudging respect. He gives a short bow in return before excusing himself for the intrusion, shoes next to the spot Natsu’s just were. “It’s not a lie, you idiot. You haven’t beaten me yet. And I’m gonna score higher than you on this math test, so.”

“You—!”

And Natsu doesn’t hear the rest, already on her way).

***

(Many, many years later, Natsu watches a game of volleyball take place in an auditorium in Tokyo from her living room couch. She is in her last year of high school. When the game ends, and she sees her brother and Kageyama Tobio shake hands under the net, she smiles.

Maybe volleyball isn’t so bad after all).

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! <3  
> my [twitter](https://twitter.com/chubsthehamster) and [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/chubsonthemoon).


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